GERRY MODDEJONGE, QMI Agency

It was a good thing the Edmonton Eskimos held their first practice with the full team in full pads Monday at Commonwealth Stadium.

With all the pleasantries and introductions taken care of on the weekend, the team got down to business on the second day of training camp with tempers — and helmets — flying.

Returning defensive end Kai Ellis lofted his lid in frustration following an altercation with rookie offensive tackle Jeremy Parquet during drills along the line of scrimmage.

Teammates quickly converged on the two after a drill boiled over into a shoving match. As Ellis and Parquet were separated, Ellis hurled his helmet a good 20 yards from the end zone to the temporary fence separating the field from the locker-room renovations.

“Guys usually get a little chippy during the course of camp, but usually not so much this early,” said head coach Richie Hall. “But it didn’t bother me, as far as the chippiness because they’re excited, they want to be physical, they want to be competitive out there. It’s just that we have to maintain our composure as far as the throwing of the helmets because the way that we react in practice is the way they’re going to react in the game.

“You want to maintain your composure because all of a sudden you become selfish and get thrown out of the game and that’s very detrimental to the football team. You’ve got to know where to draw the line.”

The message was received by Ellis, an eight-year CFL veteran entering his second season with the Eskimos.

“That’s something that you’ve got to learn, especially for me, is composure because if that was a real game I’d be ejected,” said Ellis, who holds no hard feelings against Parquet. “I’m good with him. Everybody wants good intensity and it’s not going to happen again because we’re all teammates.”

But Ellis isn’t the first one to hike his headgear at Commonwealth Stadium.

“Everybody’s sore and when you’re tired, people get a little more irritated and tempers flare. It happens to everybody. Nobody grabbed any shovels,” Ellis said, referring to a well-documented incident last season when former Eskimos rookie defensive lineman Xzavie Jackson left the practice field only to return armed with a shovel during an altercation with a teammate.

“The thing is when you’re new, you want to make a name for yourself on the team. You want everybody to respect you as a player,” Ellis said. “So you’re going to maybe be a little bit nastier on plays. They just have to get into the way of how people practice.”

At six-foot-four and 255 pounds, Ellis gives up three full inches and at least 80 pounds to the hulking Parquet.

“When I get mad, I just don’t care who it is,” Ellis said.

“I know we get irritated and we get pissed off but there’s always the next play that you can retaliate,” Hall said. “Do your talking between the whistles, not outside the whistles where it’s going to jeopardize your football team.

“Any time you put pads on, there’s a certain level of intensity that occurs. As coaches, we want a certain level of intensity, but we don’t want a game-like atmosphere because we don’t want them to kill each other.”